rashana

Or maybe we just need to find the real legal definition of "patient confidentiality" or who benefits from keeping "secrets" If the names are changed and circumstances altered a bit, one is allowed to write books. Why then not on facebook or allnurses? Where is the "support" in the forums and groups if we're not allowed to explain the situations that are causing us difficulty or moral distress. What are we afraid of and why? Does the ANA have a policy or who gives guidance on this aside from "keep secrets so you don't get the institutions sued?"

Dear Pin and everyone else, I began this fight 27 years ago when I wrote the Nurse's Story and got to go cross country doing TV, radio and print in 21 cities 3 different times. And though no one alone can make a difference, each one of us can. Now I have three online sites, I plan on taking all our problems to the American Nurses association and asking them who's watching our back? And if they say nurses don't support them, I'll ask if nurses even know what they do. But as it is now, any one of us can help educate and inform the patients directly....online. I just started to post on "lay people's" sites to let them know what's going on...I'm going to run webinars and get nurses together. There are over 2 million of us, and we have to get over the idea that we're powerless. We're not. But we have to team up! Patients trust us more than any other profession but should they? Defenseless defenders are no good at all! And maybe one at a time, we can be slammed but it only takes the good to do nothing, for evil to prevail. Now as we move into advanced practice, even more of us will be left hanging if we don't have unions or other backing, so we'd better step up now. Imagine if all the nurses called in sick for a few days? What would the CEO's do? What would the patients do? Let's talk about it Come and let's hash it out. You don't even have to give your real name. I'll cover for you. I'm also going to write to politicians etc. But we're smart, and innovative. We should be able to come up with something, and not keep playing the same game! Let's do it! Hey what if we get all the retired nurses to talk. They can't get fired!!! :)

What organization represents us? What happens when no one covers our back? And as we have more nurses go into advanced practice, who will be there then to support us in the ways the AMA did doctors? Does no one find that a problem?

To Madwoman 2002, I love it! But more nurses and more patients should know that's how healthcare is run today. There are so many of us that if we could just team up we'd be a force to be reckoned with. But we'd all have to do it. Problem is we believe there is a shortage of jobs, we believe we should be used as shills to cover for hospitals and insurance companies, but we really should be with the patients while others' trained in other fields should be doing that paperwork. Now, we have the science of medicine, the business of medicine and no one considers the Art of Healing. Human connection helps to heal, and unless we get back to basics and help nurture and educate our patients there won't be healing in our healthcare. There will be body mechanics and techies but without human touch we'll have given away our strongest healing tool. Besides, nurses need to look at how else they can be advocates for patients. Defenseless defenders are no good at all. How does our organization back us? And if they do, we should know what they do. I've been searching so I think I'll call them or write to them today, and find out how they have our backs....

Except if everyone began speaking up, they couldn't fire everyone. There are whistleblower laws and if anything is dangerous to a patient, there is the concept of nursing ethics and advocacy for the patients to be considered. I just read an article by a doctor telling stories about five of his patients on Facebook. Do you think they'll take his license away? If not maybe we should be looking at the organizations who are supposed to be watching our backs. A defenseless defender is no good to anyone. And if we won't speak up now, when? Do we really understand how many of us there are, and how powerful a force we could be if we could stop splintering and show ourselves as a unified force? Does anyone know how many lobbyist the American Nurses Association has? And what the legal protections are?

Are nurses the only ones without "free speech" and who does it benefit? It's in place so we don't ruin any institutions PR, or so the business of medicine can't be sued. But where does it leave us as far as reaching out for support, as far as sharing experiences etc. Seems to me that if another country tried this, we would say it wasn't a democracy. I've read that nurses have been fired for posting on Facebook, but I haven't seen a doctor fired. What is the American Nurses Association's position on this if names and places are disguised? I know books are able to be written, because I've written several, as long as you put in a disclaimer. Maybe we should all just say, "the people and places in this example are ficticious etc." On what grounds are nurses being fired? I think we should have some legal counsel where they'd have to prove intent. Otherwise it's just another means of oppression on nurses. We need to have the reason for the policy, not just another way to keep us powerless.

Hey guys and girls, I just read the post by californiadreaming, and I'm not quite understanding why everyone attacked. Nursing is taken advantage of, they can't fight for their rights against insurance companies in the same way that the AMA does for doctors, and we do deserve more acknowledgement for our gifts of caring etc that we bring to health care. Yet who does watch our back? Especially with the new and expanded roles. If our legal representation and our lobbies aren't strong enough, the advanced practice nurses are going to be in bigger trouble than doctors have been. The simple truth is that a nurses nobility shouldn't be taken advantage of, and a suggestion from someone new coming in shouldn't make everyone crazy and defensive. I've been a nurse for a very long time, I've stood up, written books, and work long and hard everywhere so patients know what nurses do, yet we don't have the kind of power we deserve. And why? Because as I said on my own blog, 29 doctors in a hotel room chosen by the AMA and sworn to confidentiality, are the ones deciding the fees for doctors and other practitioners to be paid by Medicare and Medicaid. That's 60 billion dollars...and 29 doctors. No nurses. Yes, we should belong to our nursing organizations, and we should be politically aware and our nursing organizations should cover our back....and yes, also, change takes time. But I was saying just about the same things 30 years ago. Even more important, nurses don't "team" and they turn on each other too quickly. That is what weakens us because if we did stand together there are so many of us that we would have the power we deserve...to fight for ourselves and for our patients. But we have to be willing to see the truth, and not chew anyone up who disagrees with us or asks a question that could have been defended without attacking...Let's not let the business of Medicine or the science of medicine rob us of the Art of healing. That's what nurses are really good at. And that's what heals....

I've read several posts by docs on FB and yet only once did I read that a doctor was fined 500 dollars for breaching patient confidentiality. The AMA backed her up. Is there an organization that has our back? Does the ANA or any other legal or political organization have a code besides "just say no" to any story of patient distress or nurse distress that a nurse recounts to learn other solutions or ask for advice? Why aren't we allowed to share our dilemmas if we change names and disguise hospital names? If they force us to keep all conflicts and stories quiet, how is that free speech or any kind of support that we can give each other? This whole thing has to be rethought or it becomes another of the "conspiracies of silence" that health care is known for and it keeps us and our patients powerless.

I agree. It's condescending and they don't do it to other professionals. Imagine saying to a lawyer, "You make a difference." Or to a doctor "You make a difference." It's almost like saying "Good girl," or "good boy" while these same pharma companies are part of the problem in Healthcare today. They should offer more money, more status, more respect. But at this time, they are the ones who are paying the lobbyists to keep health care from those who need it. They are the ones who are outsourcing our meds and bypassing FDA inspections for profit etc. Also, intuitively, we know that they are always going to target the Nurses and Nurse Practitioners who will then be ordering their products. We have to remember that we make a difference but a pat on the head just doesn't do it. Besides, it's for Nurse Educators, not for nurses. And if hospitals didn't replace us with unskilled workers at the bedside, there would be more nurse educators to train more nurses because it would be more worth it in a material sense. Not saying that "service" is not worth a lot more than many of the other jobs available today but to pat us on the head and appeal to the "saint" in us doesn't work if we need to provide for our families.

Does anyone know who funded this study? I'd love to look up the original article. And do we know how many of these (aside from Brian's allnurses) is individually run rather than corporate backed? Just wondering about the amount of funding it would take to advertise. Thanks to any who know.

Or maybe we should "believe" that each and every one of us who went into nursing to serve, will do just that. And that will have to be enough. That we are enough. And if we do it with the intention to heal, that's the energy we bring to it. The patients will feel it. That same five minutes we spend being frustrated by what we are being forced to do, can be spent listening to one patient, or just comforting someone who is frightened. We don't have to buy the BS that the degree makes the nurse. I love education, I truly do, but I didn't go into nursing to be a "manager" or to be a "medical clerk." I went into nursing to help the patients, and that's what I mean to do....

Dear coolpeach, Until we can change the system, we have to bring the healing to the patients with our own knowledge of healing. Love heals, caring and kindness heal, that is what feeds the soul and the heart as much as food feeds their bodies. So if we go in to our patients, who feel lonely and frightened because they are vulnerable, with the intention of healing, if we touch them, and reassure them, then God will have to take care of the rest. The doctors can take care of the mechanical stuff, and we'll just keep practicing the art of nursing, because right now that's what we have. Until there are enough of us who get mad enough to change the system. In the meantime, those of us who care have to remember that caring is what heals, and service is really what we signed up for.

You think that's what's causing a rift in the workplace? Or do you think maybe the whole structure is set up to split one nurse against another?

Both of you have your strengths, and because only the educational part is valued in the system, you might want to tell her that you know her experience counts and as soon as we get to a healing model rather than a business model of medicine (not yet healing) things will change. We all have to honor what each of us does, but its only the ego stuff that gets in the way. She's probably just looking for some recognition, and you might want to give it to her to make things easier for both of you. Just a suggestion....

I wonder what would happen, if all nurses joined forces and refused to do all the things that took us away from caring for our patients. According to the Code of Nursing Ethics if we see harm coming to a patient from the system they're in, we're supposed to advocate for the patients! Somehow we have bought the idea that our caring, our observation, our counseling and caretaking at the bedside has been devalued, and has been taken away from us so that we can act to protect the hospitals and insurance companies from malpractice. But is that the nursing any of us dreamed of? I don't think so. And as the new studies on healing and intention and energy transfer are shown to be healing or damaging, those of us who know what heals will begin to have a voice and be valued. Not only because of degrees which take us away from the bedside, but because they realize our value as caretakers and nurses. Not as medical secretaries who work as shills for the business of medicine. Don't be discouraged though, there always has to be a breakdown, before we have a breakthrough....to a real healing system. Keep heart. And just be kind to the patients, that heals...